Kung Fu Panda 2 Review: Fuzzy Action With No Heart

I saw the first Kung Fu Panda on a plane and, as you may already know, a plane is one of the worst places to see a movie. It ranks down there with the ancient TV/VCR combos you find in isolated cabins in the woods. The monitors are tiny, the color is off, and the audio awful, but despite all of that I really enjoyed watching it on that flight. The kung fu action was exciting and the jokes quick. Normally I am not a fan of Dreamworks animation but  Kung Fu Panda was a fun and entertaining way to pass my time between LAX and ORD.  This time I decided to opt for a slightly larger seat, and saw the sequel in the theater.  Kung Fu Panda 2 is no Kung Fu Panda, but it is still better than most Dreamworks animated attempts. Then again  How To Train Your Dragon is still hovering in the middle of my Netflix queue.

Po the Panda ( AKA The Dragon Warrior) and his friends The Furious Five ; Tigress, Crane, Mantis, Viper and Monkey, must face a brand new villain who plans to use a secret, unstoppable weapon to conquer China and destroy kung fu. The plot isn’t really important. You just need to know that Po and the other Five need to use kung fu to stop evil.  The villain is a murderous peacock voiced by Gary Oldman, who everybody knows is the panda’s natural enemy in the wild.

Kung Fu Panda 2 is a gorgeous film. The visuals are stunning and the animation is awe inspiring. They actually use up to four different types of animation in the film that makes for effective storytelling and  keep the visuals interesting. I saw it in 3D and the film uses the effect well but it wears off halfway through the movie. Like most 3D movies.

There are less laugh out loud moments in KFP2 compared to the original, but thankfully the film doesn’t rely on shoehorned pop culture references or adult double entendres for its humor. It’s refreshing that a kid’s movie actually tries to make you laugh the old fashioned way, with slapstick and silliness. Po the Panda is excellent at pratfalls and spit-takes and it will definitely give kids a good belly laugh.

Kung Fu Panda suffers from all too common Dreamworks superstar overcasting.  There are more celebrity voices in KFP2 than there are in We Are The World. It has too many characters and too many star voice overs.  The big names kept dropping- I mean rolling-during the end credits and I hadn’t even noticed their  voices or even the characters.  Think I’m exaggerating, here’s a list:  Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Gary Oldman Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, James Hong, Michelle Yeoh, Danny McBride, Dennis Haysbert, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Victor Garber. There aren’t enough lines to go around.

As the climax of the film ramps up, the film fizzles out like a dud firework. The fight scenes become monotonous and the plot drags on. The skillful animation ultimately becomes nothing more than empty eye candy with no real emotion or story to support it. Unfortunately the everyday hero spirit of the first film was missing here, as instead they just tried to make the skies bluer and the explosions bigger.

Will your kids like it? Of course they will, they’ll love it. I just wished it lived up to its panda- predecessor.

Images courtesy of Dreamworks/Paramount.